October 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ecclesiastes 7:1–12

Devotional

The author of Ecclesiastes does not want to say that he is not allowed to have fitting joy. In the third chapter of his book he says that all things have their own season and time. There is a time in life to be joyful and glad. But if we have to consider what is more expedient for man, then it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. To mourn is better than to laugh. The author of Ecclesiastes sees everything in the light of eternity. He compares life and death. For him “better” is that which is more beneficial in the light of eternity.

Why is it better to be in the house of mourning? Because that is where we find the end of all people. Note well: the end of all people. So it is not that we find the end of someone else. We think of a grave only in terms of it belonging to someone else. But we must realize that this phrase implies our death and the end of our life on earth. It is necessary when we view the end of someone else that we also learn to see our own end. Then we ask ourselves the question: “How shall my end be?” “Where am I going?”

Moreover, when we start to think about our end, we will also start thinking about our beginning, and we will ask: “How was my beginning?” Well, that beginning was bad. We are conceived and born in sin. Therefore, if grace does not enter our life between our beginning and our end, the end will be terrible.

The house of mourning tells us: “The end is coming.” That is why we should enter there. The book of Ecclesiastes does not say that we should wait until death has entered our home. We should enter the house of our neighbor and be confronted with death and mourning so as to consider our own end. That is why we should not only enter with our feet, but especially with our heart. We should have genuine concern for death and the grave.

We should enter the house of mourning and no longer should we bypass the reality of death as if we would live here forever. No longer should we deceive ourselves with false peace, as if only other people will die. Now, while it still can be done, God’s Word gives us this counsel. There is yet time because we are still in the land of the living. We still have opportunity to meditate on man’s beginning and his end, and so be spiritually alive. Let us come to the awareness that we have to die before we actually die.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.